Advice on why and how to self e-publish your books from New York Times and USA Today bestseller CJ Lyons. CJ has had two indy e-published books appear on the USA Today list and one debut on the combined print/e-book New York Times list at #2. This book alone sold 230,000 copies in only two months and has sold in almost a dozen countries. In addition to her six traditionally published novels, CJ now has nine books self e-published with sales of almost half a million books in 2011 alone.

Part one explores the pitfalls of indy e-publishing. Part two explores the practical how-tos.

Part 2: The Nuts and Bolts

Being a cyber-klutz, I thought this would be the most difficult part of self e-publishing, but it actually was quite easy (if a bit tedious and time-consuming).

All the major e-pub sites have guidelines available. All you need to do is to follow them.

Don’t want to do anything on your own? There are many “all in one” services springing up, including some from traditional publishers. I would caution you to do your due diligence before you use one. Know what’s a reasonable charge for formatting, conversion, and distribution. Never sign an agreement giving them any of your rights or future earnings.

One of the oldest and most reputable of these sites is BookBaby.com. They provide some free guides to indy e-publishing that will help you decide which direction to go—even if it’s deciding not to use their services.

Before you choose any service, carefully read their terms of agreement and definitely shop around.

If you’re doing your own distribution, the major sites are Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes and Noble’s PubIt!, and Smashwords. All provide free distribution.

There are also programs available that will allow you to do your own formatting. See the resource section for a list of a few.

How do I do it?

Step one is to create an account at the sites you’ll be using. Through this account you’ll upload your books, track sales, make any revisions to your final product, and, at some sites, interact with customers.

Step two: read each site’s guide to formatting and follow it closely. For the sites I worked with, this basically came down to stripping all formatting from a Word doc of your manuscript and exporting it in the format the e-publishing site requires.

I found the Smashwords guide to be very thorough and in-depth with a lot of trouble-shooting tips, so I start there, transforming my Word doc to a document suitable for Smashwords and then simply export it as a html file for uploading to Amazon.

This step is the most time-consuming because you need to go through every line of the manuscript ensuring that no errant formatting remains behind and that the resulting manuscript is readable. I found several easy shortcuts and created a video about the Five Easy Steps to Formatting that you can view here: http://www.norulesjustwrite.com/resources/indy-resources/.

Step three is almost as tiresome as step two. You need to upload the re-formatted manuscript to each site and proofread it (yes, again!) to ensure that nothing is lost in translation.

Step four: add cover art, a description, tags, and set a price. This is where using more than one platform comes in handy.

I start by publishing my books on Smashwords because if they are qualified for their Premium Catalogue, then they’ll be distributed to a variety of channels including the Sony, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo stores. You can inexpensively purchase an ISBN for each book or use one of the free ones provided. Smashwords also has an easy to use coupon generator, which is perfect if you’re trying to target certain groups and want to measure your success.

I prefer to distribute to all of the channels through Smashwords except Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s PubIt!—those I do myself. I like being able to control the Kindle and PubIt! channels since for me, they’re the ones with the most sales.

Step five: Hit publish and you’re done!

What about the money?

Some authors may choose to give their work away for free in order to gain new readers or as a promotion tied to other books. But most of us will be hoping to earn some income from our e-published books.

Joe Konrath initially recommended pricing books between $0.99 and $1.99. I disagreed, thinking that a full-length (100,000 word) ebook was worth the same as paperback. I also wanted slightly higher price points than Konrath advised because I thought it would be nice to have special “sales” tied to my traditionally published releases in the future.

Since my paperbacks sell for $4.99 at Walmart, that’s where I priced my full-length novels. My shorter novels (75-85,000 words) I price at $2.99.

My results? My bestsellers, without ever lowering the price, have been my $4.99 books. And, when I’ve used limited time promotional sales or free giveaways, I’ve been able to increase sales of ALL my books three-fold.

What’s very exciting is even a month after a sale ends, my overall numbers remain significantly higher than before the sale. So I now try to have some kind of promotion every other month, usually tying it to a holiday or new book release.

The Bottom Line

My first year of indy e-pubbing I made more than I would have if I took any of the offers from NYC publishers that I’d received for these particular manuscripts. All with no expenses incurred other than my time and a few dollars for the copyright, ISBNs, and the stock art I used in the cover design.

And my second year? I’m making significant income from my indy e-publishing. Enough so that I’ve turned down several traditional publishing contracts because I can make more per book in a year than during their entire contract period without tying up my rights. Not to mention the very nice extra income from sub-rights my agent sells for me.

So why did I sign with Minotaur?

Because I firmly believe that traditional publishing has a place in my business plan. No one else can turn a book into an event, something to be treasured and placed on a reader’s keeper shelf, better than NYC publishing.

I also feel that I’m ready to take my writing craft to the next level and working with a skilled editor like I am at Minotaur will help me to do that.

In all honesty, I could earn more money without the traditional contract, but the reason I signed with Minotaur isn’t about the money. It’s about what will make my readers happy.

My readers love real books as much as they do their e-books. They want more stories—and better stories.

For me, pursuing a “hybrid” career is the best way to achieve this.

Indy e-publishing definitely has its place in an author’s career path, whether to keep a backlist alive, to try new genres and markets, to use as a promotional tool in conjunction with traditionally published books, or to generate income on the side.

But, remember, it’s only a tool. You are in charge of your publishing career. Decide which tool to use and when to use it because you have a clear goal, not because everyone is “doing it.”

Happy writing!
CJ

Resources:

JA Konrath’s blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com

US Government Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov/register/

Amazon’s Kindle Digital Text Platform
http://dtp.amazon.com

Smashwords
http://www.smashwords.com

PubIt!
http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com

No Rules, Just WRITE!
http://www.norulesjustwrite.com

E-book Creation Tools:

Calibre
http://calibre-ebook.com/

Legend Maker (paid software, Mac only, but wow, so easy to use!)
http://www.zapptek.com/legendmaker/

Sigil (free opensource software)
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/

Press Books (free service on a wordpress platform)
http://pressbooks.com/wp-signup.php

***

So now you know the good, the bad and the how-to’s of e-publishing. Ready to give it a shot?

Join us on Friday for The Form of Romance, or, A Roll in the Hay with Theresa Stevens

***

Bio: As a pediatric ER doctor, New York Times Bestseller CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.

CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).

Learn more about CJ’s Thrillers with Heart at www.cjlyons.net and read her tips on publishing at www.NoRulesJustWRITE.com

Advice on why and how to self e-publish your books from New York Times and USA Today bestseller CJ Lyons. CJ has had two indy e-published books appear on the USA Today list and one debut on the combined print/e-book New York Times list at #2. This book alone sold 230,000 copies in only two months and has sold in almost a dozen countries. In addition to her six traditionally published novels, CJ now has nine books self e-published with sales of almost half a million books in 2011 alone.

Part one explores the pitfalls of indy e-publishing. Part two explores the practical how-tos.

Part One: Start with Why

The publishing industry is in an era of upheaval, forcing many authors to flex their entrepreneur muscles, searching for new avenues of income and ways to keep their books in the public’s eye.

One way of doing this is to self e-publish your backlist or other books you hold the rights to.  With more and more readers embracing e-books and e-books becoming the fastest growing segment of publishing, the idea of cutting out the middle-men and keeping profits for ourselves is tempting.

Here are a few things to think about before walking the path of electronic self-publication:

Why self e-publish?

Like many authors, once I was firmly established with NYC publishers, I never thought about e-publishing or self-publishing, much less doing both!

But I found myself with four manuscripts that were all previously in the hands of NYC publishers but for a variety of reasons never made it to publication. Then I saw a blog by multi-published thriller author JA Konrath discussing his own experiment with electronic self-publishing.  His argument was logical, the numbers impressive, but I was still skeptical.

I wanted these books to find an audience but I didn’t want to tie them to contracts I might later regret, especially as these four novels were all romantic suspense/thrillers and my career has moved to more mainstream suspense/thriller.  In December, 2009, I decided to perform my own self-publishing experiment.

I realized I could use these books as promotional products as well as money-makers.  Since I was in control of when they were released, how long they were available, and what their price was, I had far greater freedom than I do with my traditionally published works.

In fact, this was the deciding factor for me—my personal ultimate why. My traditionally published books were being released about once a year. But my readers were demanding more books, faster.

What better way to keep my readers happy than to indy e-publish?

When I found my why: putting my readers first, the rest came easy. In fact, focusing on that one question every step of the way, “will this make my readers happy?” made every decision I faced a simple one.

Your “why” might vary. I’ve helped several authors to forge new careers in the indy e-pubbing world. Some were desperate to make money faster than they could with traditional publishing and their path ended up being very different than mine, because their why was different.

The same with others who were unpublished and simply interested in name recognition and building a readership, or those who wanted to hit a bestseller list and use their indy success to negotiate better traditional contracts.

Know your why and everything else falls into place.

Pitfall #1: Know Your Audience

Anyone deciding to self-publish should have a good grasp of their target audience.  You want to build an audience who will stay with you and help spread the word of your books–and that means making a promise to always deliver a high quality read.

In other words, just as in mainstream publishing, indy e-publishing is still ALL about the reader.

It’s not about clearing your closet of dusty manuscripts just because you can.  Unless you plan on giving your work away for free, your goal is to attract paying customers for future books.  The books you self e-publish need to be just as good as any book a NYC publisher is selling.

If you have a backlist you own the rights to, they’ve already been professionally edited, so you’re good to go.  Do be aware that publishers own the cover art, so you’ll need to create a new cover for your e-book.

Even if your why is to make money fast, ala John Locke, you need to understand the buying habits of your target audience. What price point earns you maximum profit (not sales, but actual profit)? What kind of books sell best at that price point? Does your target audience buy at that price point? How can you maximize profits?

Pitfall #2: Build Your Team

If you’re planning to release a book that hasn’t been previously published, make certain it is professionally edited.  The four books I chose for my initial experiment were all edited prior to self-publication–three by NYC editors (before their road to publication went astray) and one by a professional freelance editor.  Do not rely solely on your critique partners or your Great Aunt Martha who gushes to her bridge club about your writing!

Remember, not only are you competing against NYT bestsellers, you’re also selling a product to a consumer.  If you expect to win their hard earned money–and more importantly, their time, attention, and future sales loyalty–then you need to create a worthy product.

In addition to getting extensive feedback from my critique partners (all multi-published, awarding-winning bestselling authors) I also hire a cover artist and two editors (one developmental, one for copyedits) for each book I publish.

Which means planning to spend some money (or barter if you have friends who are professionals in these fields) as part of your initial start up plan.

Also, just like any business venture, you need to weigh the effect of indy publishing on your current business partnerships. Let your agent and publisher know of your plan. Address how your indy books will fit into your overall marketing scheme and brand building. Make sure you plan release dates and promotional efforts that will augment any traditionally published books you have coming out.

If done correctly, your indy e-books could be your best marketing tools!

My agent loved the idea of my e-pubbing when I presented it to her as a way for me to keep my readers happy while increasing name recognition between traditionally published books. She earns nothing from my direct e-sales, but represents these books for sub-right sales and during any negotiations with traditional publishers.

I can also thank my indy e-book success for my new contract with Minotaur Books. They saw potential for a series in BLIND FAITH, my NYT bestseller, and with our very first conversation we discussed how to integrate my indy publishing (no way am I going to stop that—it’s what is keeping my readers happy!) with their traditional publishing release of the new series. They’re even bringing the new books out very close together, despite their being hardcovers, something unheard of in NYC publishing even six months ago!

I have my readers to thank for a lot of this success and consider them an essential part of my team. Over 13,000 of them have signed up for my newsletter and many of them have gone on to join my Street Team Family. To see how this works, you can find more information here: http://cjlyons.net/for-readers/join-cjs-street-team/

Pitfall #3: Patience, patience, patience

Success in indy e-publishing doesn’t happen overnight. In general, it takes several months to begin to build sales (usually 4-6) and having multiple titles (again, usually 4-6) out there to continue to drive that momentum.

If you’re unpublished, with no established readership, I would recommend waiting until you have two to three manuscripts polished and ready to go. Make sure they’re aimed at the same target audience in order to maximize their effectiveness.

Launch the first, making as big of splash as possible—consider pricing it as a loss-leader or even giving it away in exchange for folks signing up for your mailing list or utilize other techniques/social media to use it to build a readership.

Once you have some good reviews and your first book is gaining momentum, launch the second and third.

Don’t obsess over numbers—but do pay attention when something does drive sales. It might be a mention on a particular blog or you changing the price (sometimes raising the price is just as effective as lowering it, so don’t be afraid to experiment) or a good review.

Some authors have found success in buying blog ads/sponsorships. I haven’t. For me, concentrating on my readers via a newsletter has been much more cost effective. But when you’re starting out, definitely budget some time and money to try different approaches and see what avenue works best for your audience.

Pitfall #4: Keeping readers happy when there’s only 24 hours in a day

How best to grow a readership? More books. Correction. More books that they want.

I recently launched the third in the Hart and Drake medical suspense series based solely on readers requesting it. Within one day it was hitting the Amazon bestseller lists. I thought it would be the last in the series, but I’ve already had over a hundred letters asking for Book #4 and the third book, FACE TO FACE, has only been out a month, so yes, somehow I’m going to find time to write Book #4.

The same happened with my Shadow Ops series (if you’re a fan, Billy and Rose’s story is coming soon, I promise!) and my Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller series—which began as a standalone in SNAKE SKIN but so many fans begged for “More Lucy, please!” that a second book is coming out early 2012.

Now my biggest problem is finding time to write all these books in between my traditional publisher’s deadlines.

Knowing how fast you write and what other resources you have to keep readers engaged (back list books, short stories, etc) is vital when creating your business plan.

The pros and cons of indy e-publishing are a highly individual equation. If you’re already having trouble finding time to finish books (especially if you have deadlines to meet), then you might want to wait on indy e-publishing until you have rights back to your backlist and won’t have to worry about scheduling writing time.

If you aren’t already published or are published but interested in writing in a new genre (which entails building a new readership) then the time commitment indy e-publishing requires might be worth it for you.

Do understand that it is a business and treat it as such. That means keeping up with all aspects of the business, not just the fun part of telling a damn good story.

You’ll need to learn how to manage the money, both coming in and going out. How to read the terms of agreement so you don’t accidentally violate them. How to use social media and other resources to spread the word. Building a mailing list and maintaining it. Negotiating foreign rights (if you don’t have an agent), audio rights, and other sub-rights. How to work with freelance artists and buy stock art without infringing on copyright. How to hire editors. How to obtain your copyright and ISBN numbers—and do you even need them?

We’ll be talking more about these nuts and bolts in Part Two. In the meantime, NoRulesJustWRITE.com has a collection of resources on entrepreneurship, the publishing business, and how to start your indy e-publishing career.

Questions? Post them in the comments and I’ll stop back!

Thanks for reading!

CJ

***

Ok..raise your hands. How many of you are thinking of self pubbing or already have?

Come back on Wednesday when CJ tells us the how-to’s of Indy Publishing.

***

Bio: As a pediatric ER doctor, New York Times Bestseller CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.

CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).

Learn more about CJ’s Thrillers with Heart at www.cjlyons.net and read her tips on publishing at www.NoRulesJustWRITE.com

Mon, 12/19 and Wed, 12/21 – NYT Bestselling author CJ Lyons talks about Indy E-Publishing in a super two-part series. www.cjlyons.net

Fri, 12/23 – Theresa Stevens discusses the bog, purple elephant in the room: is romance writing formulaic?  http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/

All Romance University lectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!

Best regards,

Tracey Devlyn, Carrie Spencer, Jennifer Tanner, Robin Covington, Kelsey Browning, Becke Martin-Davis and Adrienne Giordano.

Creating a very good bad guy is one of the most important things an author needs to do no matter what genre you write. Most of our hero’s character arc will be driven by how he/she responds to the antagonist. Because of this, creating the right bad guy is essential.

I’m going to give you three examples and three techniques you can use to develop a villain so compelling he’s irresistible.

(Keep reading to the end, because I’m also going to give you a chance to win a critique from my uber-agent, Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency!)

In the mystery/suspense/thriller genre our plots are ultimately driven by how bad our bad guy is. The villain is responsible for getting the story started, whether it’s a dead body for our sleuth to investigate or an end-of-the-world doomsday our hero must prevent.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t be spontaneous—at least in the first draft.

Surprise Yourself

Since I’m a seat of the pants writer, I sometimes don’t know my bad guy at the start of the book. This happened in my current release, BLIND FAITH, which recently received a Top Pick from RT Book Reviews because of its “mesmerizing characters.”

I was about 2/3 of the way through the book when I realized that the person I thought was the killer really wasn’t.

Which led to great fun in using them as a red herring and planting false assumptions in the reader’s mind, masking the real culprit. I decided that if I was surprised by the villain’s true identity, readers would be as well.

Part of BLIND FAITH’s appeal is that there are several bad guys. In fact, at the onset the hero seems like he could be a villain and one of the secondary characters who starts out as a hero chooses to do the wrong thing for what he feels are all the right reasons.

BLIND FAITH is a story of betrayals. In every scene there is a betrayal. Characters betray each other, betray their loved ones, betray themselves and everything they believe in. By playing off each character’s relationships, I was able to weave these betrayals together into a crazy quilt of deceit.

Know Your Hero

How to create a compelling villain from the start? Know your hero.

In my recent release, SLEIGHT OF HAND, because I knew my heroine, Dr. Cassandra Hart, so well, I knew exactly what kind of villain would be hardest for her to triumph over. Cassie struggles with self-doubt—she’s always wondering if she could have done more for her patients, if she let them down by not doing enough. Her greatest fear is not being able to help someone depending on her and this drives her passion to get involved with her patients, no matter the cost to herself.

What kind of villain would be near-impossible for Cassie to defeat? How about someone supremely self-confident and assured, with no self-doubts? Someone who no one believes could be doing the horrible things Cassie suspects them of doing. Someone Cassie’s boss, seasoned nurses and colleagues, even her best friend believe is innocent—to the point where they wonder what’s wrong with Cassie, that she suspects this person of a horrendous crime. They start to point the finger at Cassie, undermining her own beliefs, asking if maybe Cassie is to blame or is covering up or maybe recent stress has left her mentally unbalanced.

By knowing my hero’s weaknesses and greatest fears, I can create a villain who plays on those and for the first 90% of the book seems certain to win.

That’s what you need in a villain. They have to be so powerful, so impossible to stop that the reader fears—no, more than fears, the reader believes the hero will fail. Now that’s suspense!

No matter the genre, your hero is ONLY as strong as your antagonist. If you have a weak villain, easily defeated, then your hero appears weak as well.

In the end, the hero must face their greatest fears, learning something that allows them to defeat the bad guy, whether it’s in a battle of wits or the ultimate struggle between good and evil. Often the hero sacrifices something dear to them, their old way of thinking/living, as the result of this crisis.

Not Your Typical Serial Killer

Sometimes we know what kind of villain we want but we struggle with how to flesh them out, make them more than your “typical serial killer.” To do this, I will often give them the same inner goal as my hero.

A character’s outer goal is easy to define: it’s what they want. By the end of the story they either succeed or fail.

The detective wants to stop the killer. That’s his outer goal for the story.

The bad guy wants to kill the detective and go free. That’s his outer goal.

Having an inner goal takes the story to deeper levels of emotional complexity. Inner goals are what a character NEEDS—but they don’t even know it.

It’s the life lesson they need to learn in order to heal or fix whatever it is that is holding them back from their dreams.

The detective wants to stop the killer. BUT he needs to learn to trust in others and stop being a lone wolf avenger.

Right there you can see tons of emotional conflict and opportunities to test that detective main character. But how many of us bother to give our villains that kind of emotional complexity?

The thriller sub-genre of serial killer novels is rife with bad guys who feel interchangeable, their only difference being the body part they keep for souvenirs. Yet, even serial killers can be given emotional depth—look at one of the most famous, Hannibal Lecter. The reason his character resonates over time is because Thomas Harris gave Hannibal an unconscious desire that is universal and resonates with readers.

Yes, Hannibal is a fiend. His outer goal is to keep killing those who he feels are ugly and inferior—and with an ego the size of his, that’s 99.9% of the world’s population.

BUT Hannibal has an inner goal as well. One that Jack Crawford exploits when he sends Will Graham and Clarice Starling to Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon. One that Hannibal himself senses as he reaches out to bond with and mentor other psychopaths.

Hannibal wants to kill. But he NEEDS to be loved. He’s searching for a partner, someone he can care for, protect, mentor, respect.

No wonder this cannibalistic psychopath wormed his way into the hearts of millions!

Want complexity in your villain? Give them an inner goal.

I did this in my mainstream FBI thriller, SNAKE SKIN. It features Lucy Guardino, a typical Pittsburgh soccer mom juggling the needs of work and family. Only Lucy’s job is as a FBI agent who works crimes against children.

In SNAKE SKIN, Lucy gets caught up in a case involving a kidnapped girl a few years older than her own daughter. Because of the horrendous things Lucy sees at work, she insulates her family from that part of her life and drives herself with the hope that saving kids will keep her family safe. She knows it’s irrational, magical thinking, but she can’t give up on the kids at risk—which means less time and energy to devote to her family—so she convinces herself that she’s doing it all for her family.

All she wants is to save the girl. What she needs is to learn to put her family first.

The villain in SNAKE SKIN also wants to save the girl—he wants her as a life partner, to build the family he never had.

Can you feel the added conflict by giving both the good guy and bad guy the same outer goal? How about if we take it a step further and give them the same inner goal?

Lucy needs to learn to put her family first. The bad guy needs to learn to put his family (the girl) first.

Can’t have it both ways, can we? One must win and one must fail. But the reader is going to be torn, wondering and worrying that the right one might not win—and if she does, what will be the cost to the innocent victim caught in the tug-o-war between Lucy and the villain?

Notice that there’s no artificial ratcheting of the tension by seeing how gruesome and over the top the bad guy can go as happens in so many serial killer novels. Instead, the tension is increased by understanding basic primal psychological needs of the audience and focusing on those in the relationships of both the hero and villain.

Yes, relationships. There should be an intricate dance building between your hero and villain as well as with the reader. Spins and whirls and dips and pressed together, pulled apart. The hero and villain push each other’s actions and reactions until things spiral out of control at the climax where only one can triumph.

This is the essence of the subgenre of thrillers I call Thrillers with Heart. They’re all about the people and their relationships (for better or worse) instead of being about the fiendish fetishes of the killer or the forensic technology or international conspiracies.

People are interested in people. Readers resonate more with characters who touch their own deepest fears, their own unconscious desires. Good guys and bad guys.

Want your bad guy to be so bad, he’s good?

First, make him stronger than the hero at the start of the story. Your hero is ONLY as strong as your villain. If you have a weak villain, easily defeated, then your hero appears weak as well.

Second, make him human. Give him both an outer goal and an inner goal.

Third, go beyond the villain and look at his relationships. How does he push the hero to achieve, risk, fail more than the hero ever thought imaginable? How does the hero push back?

You tell me: Who’s the bad guy in your book and what makes him/her unique?

One lucky commenter will receive a critique of their first ten pages from my agent, the ever-fantastic Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency!

Want to see how I use the above techniques? Right now BLIND FAITH is on sale for 0.99 at BN.com and Amazon. Email me a copy of your receipt for BLIND FAITH and I’ll send you a FREE e-copy of SNAKE SKIN.

(Yes, I know that’s two complete novels for only 0.99! What can I say? I love rewarding readers!)

Just send the receipt to cjlyons @ cjlyons.net (without the spaces) BEFORE 8/21/11 and add a note that you’re coming from RU. Remember: this offer expires 8/21/11

Thanks for reading!
CJ

***

RU Readers, who’s your favorite villain, and why?

Join us tomorrow for the very talented Allison Brennan!

***

Bio: As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge thrillers. In addition to being an award-winning, bestselling author, CJ is a nationally known presenter and will be teaching her online Thrillers with Heart class in September. FMI click HERE

CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).

Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich. You can learn more about her writing at www.cjlyons.net and find resources on writing craft at CJ’s No Rules, Just WRITE! site, www.NoRulesJustWRITE.com

 Here’s CJ!

Thanks to everyone here at Romance U for inviting me back again! If you check out my previous posts, you’ll see that I talked a lot about playing to your strengths in order to build a platform or brand even before you’re published.

Adrienne asked me to come back today and discuss what to do after you get a contract–a Promotion 101 primer.

There are tons of places debut authors can find information–so many that it’s often overwhelming. It’s easy to feel like all you want to do is hide in your hermit cave and write the next book.

No worries–even I feel like that most of the time!!! You see, I’m an Introvert and my strength comes from my ability to sit alone and focus, get the job done.

I can put on a “party face” when needed, but it takes work and a lot of psychic energy–so much so that often for days after a convention I can’t write.

Now, Extroverts–they usually don’t need any help with promotion, they’re walking/talking promotional powerhouses. Which can be a good thing as long as they learn to channel that energy and focus on the real work: writing the next book.

Because here’s what I’m going to tell you that is different from all the other how-to-promote advice for debut authors:

Number one thing a debut author should do to promote their work and build their career? WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Number two thing? WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Number three? Repeat after me….WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Okay, you guys got that. Now, what else should you be focused on while preparing for your debut?

Most how-to posts will give you a checklist. In fact, I have a pretty good one that I wrote a few years ago called Birth of a Book: What to Do While You’re Expecting. It’s a pdf and you can download it here http://cjlyons.net/extras/for-writers/

But I’m not going to give you a checklist here. Instead, I’m going to tell you to ask yourself three questions. These may sound familiar, they’re at heart the same three questions we discussed while talking about branding and that I use at every step of the way when teaching my writing classes.

Here we go!

1. Why did you write this book?

2. Who did you write this book for?

3. What are you willing to do for this book?

Dig deep with your answers! Why? Because the answers will frame your entire marketing strategy–and make it a custom fit tailored to you and your readers!

How?

Why did you write this book? Answer that truthfully and you’ll find yourself telling all sorts of stories about what the book meant to you and what inspired you and why this character did that and how you researched various things, etc, etc, etc.

Key word in all of that? Stories!!!

Right there is the heart of every answer you need for interviews, guest blog posts, QandA’s, press releases, etc, etc, etc.

Look at your answer. If you dug deep you’ll find that you’ve placed a human, emotional face onto dry facts whether you’re talking about your research or how you juggled your schedule to find time to write this book you were so passionate about.

Let that passion and emotion shine through–it’s how we connect to an audience!

Answer that question truthfully and you’ll never have to worry about a paint-drying-boring press release or interview or feature article again! Because you–the “real” you, authentic and passionate and honest!–will be at the heart of each story written about you (or by you).

Okay, so that’s pretty much all the content you’ll need. Now, you need to decide who to send that content to.

Sounds like the answer to question #2, doesn’t it? Who did you write this book for? That’s your target audience.

It might be one person, say your mother. That’s fine, ask yourself why? Is it because you’ve been estranged and you’re reaching out through your characters for a chance to reconnect?

Guess what? A large number of people have been there, done that! Use them, reach out to them via blogs, online groups, etc.

Did you add a Calico Cat character because you wrote the entire book with your calico cat sleeping on your lap and the keyboard (kinda like I’m writing this blog, lol!) Then reach out to all the Calico Cat lovers out there!

Does the book wrestle with a social or political issue that you feel passionate about? Then reach out to the others who feel the same way!

This is targeted marketing. Reaching out and connecting with PEOPLE, not just anonymous blogs or websites or demographics. You want to connect, start conversations, tell stories.

Do not simply post a bunch of tweets, blogs, comments and turn tail and run….in other words, it’s NOT about YOU–it’s ALL about THEM!

With every audience you aim to connect with, first ask yourself: what do I have to offer them? What can I give them? What do they want?

Which brings us to question #3: what are you willing to do?

Knee jerk answer for any debut author is: ANYTHING or EVERYTHING.

Great way to burn out, fast!

Answer this one thoughtfully and honestly.

If you’re terrified of public speaking and getting up to give a talk would make you lose a week of sleep and decrease your ability to work (remember your main job is to write the next book!) then acknowledge that and incorporate it into your plan: I won’t do any live presentations.

Doesn’t it feel better just to say it? Feel that weight off your shoulders? And hey, you’re not ruining your career by focusing on the things you’re comfortable with–in fact, you are PROTECTING THE WORK!

That’s right, your job isn’t to promote your work, it’s to PROTECT it.

So make a list of promotional possibilities and impossibilities….play to your strengths. You may find only a few things under the “I know I can do this and rock it!” column–that’s fine, then really focus on those.

They might not seem like promotion at all. They might be more along the lines of writing short stories, things totally in your comfort zone. No worries. As long as you’re doing something to keep your name out there (and short stories are a great promotional tool!) you can count it.

You’ll probably find that you have a third column: I’d like to do…but I’m not very good at…type of things. Great! Those are fun to try–as long as they don’t get in the way of your writing.

For instance, you’re an Introvert but really, really want to go to RWA so you can walk around smiling and wearing your First Sale ribbon.

Figure out a way to do it that won’t sap your creative energy. Partner with an Extrovert friend who will introduce you and keep the small talk flowing. Schedule down time alone in your room so you can re-charge. Prepare a few topics of conversation ahead of time so you don’t feel like you have nothing to say. Make appointments to meet people for meals so you don’t end up eating alone in a crowd and feeling left out.

Bottom line: very, very, very few debut authors made it “big” because of their own promotional efforts.

BUT, if you know your strengths and play to them then you’ll not only have fun but you’ll be able to write the next book and build name recognition with YOUR audience.

And that’s how bestsellers are made…one reader at a time.

Thanks for reading!

CJ

PS: shameless plug, but if you’re interested in learning more about the business of becoming a creative entrepreneur, join me on my blog: http://marketingwithheart.blogspot.com/

***

RU Crew, whether you are published or soon-to-be published, who wants to take a shot at answering CJ’s questions? 

1. Why did you write this book?

 2. Who did you write this book for?

 3. What are you willing to do for this book?

Thank you to CJ for being with us again.  We always love when you visit! 

Join us on Friday when we continue our Behind the Scenes series with Deb Dixon, President and CEO of Bellebooks. Deb will give us the skinny on the production process of a book. And don’t forget our author chat tomorrow night (8 pm Central) with historical author Victoria Gray.

CJ’s Bio: As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about.  In addition to being an award-winning, bestselling author, CJ is a nationally known presenter and keynote speaker. 

CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).

Her award-winning, critically acclaimed Angels of Mercy series (LIFELINES, WARNING SIGNS, URGENT CARE and CRITICAL CONDITION) is available now.  Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich.  You can learn more at http://www.cjlyons.net/ and for free reads, “Like” her at http://www.facebook.com/CJLyonsBestsellingThrillerAuthor

Take it away, C.J.!

 What is branding?  How does an author build a brand?

 I’m not a marketing professional, but over the years I’ve been trying to learn as much as possible about the marketing side of the writing business since I feel it is important to a writer’s long term career.

 (In fact, I’ve recently begun a blog devoted to creative entrepreneurs called *Marketing with Heart* where I share these resources.

 Let’s start with what a brand is.

 To me, a brand is name recognition that evokes an emotional response in the audience.

 In other words, it’s a promise you make to your audience that a book by you will give them a certain emotional response. 

 When you build your brand you are creating yourself as an ICON (an easily remembered and identified entity) paired with that emotional response.

 For those of you who have taken my workshops on building high concept story premises, I hope this sounds familiar!!! 

 The best way to build a high concept story is to take a universal Icon and pair it with a unique element to create an emotional response in your audience.

 For example, Stephen King’s high concept for Carrie is: Prom Queen (universal icon) terrorizes small town (unique element).

 With branding, you are creating YOURSELF as the universal Icon.  Combined with specific sensory details used as your unique elements to create that emotional response.

 Which details?  Anyone who has taken my classes on world building, knows that I’ve boiled that down to three types of details used in writing.

 Guess what?  It’s the same three kinds of details used to build your brand:

 1. VISCERAL details that reveal the emotion of the author. 

 These include your choices in colors, graphics, are you smiling in your headshot or serious, the voice of your website (light hearted, casual, authoritative, intimate), the voice of your books (are they dark, sensual, funny?), how you communicate, etc.

 2. EVOCATIVE details are chosen to create an emotion in the reader. 

 These also include all of the above, but in addition to revealing yourself as an author, you are choosing these elements to specifically give your reader an emotional experience. 

 The obvious evocative detail is the graphics you use on your website and business card, bookmarks, etc. For instance, my web designer spent almost a month fine-tuning the colors and graphics on my site, http://www.cjlyons.net to create an atmosphere that conveyed, suspense, strong women willing to walk into danger, and a sense of a community surrounding them, plus she wanted to convey a “rust belt” feel rather than a glitzy highrise urban feel.

 But you can go beyond visuals to evoke emotion in your audience.

For instance, if you add a widget to your website, you could choose a game that is certain to make your audience laugh (a little humor is always good, even if you write serious because people remember people who make them laugh or smile in a positive way) or you might add a section where they can do something good like contribute to a worthy cause merely by clicking, like my own Karma Clicks page at http://cjlyons.net/extras/cjs-good-causes/ 

Instead of focusing on you, these elements of your brand are focused on your audience.  Giving them added value and a positive emotional experience associated with your name–whether it’s during a virtual visit to your website, watching a video you’re in or a book trailer, or hearing you speak in person.

You make them feel good about knowing who you are….which will increase your name recognition when they see your books.

3. TELLING details.  These are the specific details that you choose to share with your audience.  After all, you can’t (and don’t want to) pour out your entire life on your webpage or in your blog or bio.

Instead you edit.  You pick and choose the details that will have high impact, build a picture of who you are and what you represent.

So far, I’ve combined two of the elements I use when I teach fiction writing and used them to build a brand: high concept and world building. 

There’s one more element (everything always comes in three, doesn’t it?).  Theme.

In a book, theme is what the story is really about.  A universal, primal force that is communicated subliminally to the audience.

I’m talking “big” concepts, this is what people mean when they say to “dig deep.”  Love/hate, betrayal/trust, vengeance, forgiveness, family, outcast, redemption….these are the primal elements we use to bring our stories to life.

We use the same primal elements in our branding.  Look at your stories–all the stories, no matter the genre, over the life of your writing career.

If you really think about it (and this is hard! Sometimes having a friend help is a good way to go) you probably have been writing about the same theme over and over, exploring it from many different angles.

For many thriller/suspense authors this theme is fear.  For romance it could be the power of love.  For women’s fiction, the importance of family.

Whatever your personal universal theme, try to give it your own unique twist (hmmm….sounding like building your own high concept isn’t it? don’t you love it when everything works together in synergy?)

For instance, I discovered (with a lot of hard work) that my theme is: how to find the courage to change the world.  It’s there in everything I’ve written since I was five.  And in every book I’ve written, my characters have found this courage through love.

I could distill this personal theme into: all courage comes from love (which I absolutely believe) but since we’re talking branding, we also need to remember that it’s not about me but about the audience.

All courage comes from love, is a wonderful theme, but it implies that my books might be more on the romance side of the spectrum than they are.  So instead, I distilled my personal theme into something that my target audience would respond to without being confused about what I write: Everyday, Heroes are Born.

I like this, it implies that all of us (including my audience) could be heroes, that it’s not too late to learn how to become a hero, and that we might all need to be heroes some day.

I even used this theme to create my own subgenre of thriller/suspense novels: Thrillers with Heart.

Can you change your brand?  Absolutely, but with great care–once you build a brand, it is a part of you, so cherish it.

Now that I’m moving away from strict medical suspense into mainstream suspense/thrillers with a women’s fiction sentimentality through my new partnership with Erin Brockovich (yes, The Erin Brockovich!!!) I was advised that I might want to de-emphasize the medical elements of my brand.

I’m in the midst of revising my website to “feel” more like women’s fiction–warm, welcoming, intimate place where confidences can be shared and the audience leaves feeling empowered and inspired–while also keeping some suspense/thriller elements like my articles on forensics, photos of my adventures in research, and some medical facts.  There will be more “behind the scenes” info (again, to give that feeling of intimacy, of the reader coming into my “home”) and the color scheme will change–less blood red, more mellow golds (think “hearth”) and some blues.

I haven’t changed.  My theme hasn’t changed.  What has changed as my writing evolves are the specific elements I choose to communicate my brand.

Confused? Take a look at the most memorable writers in your genre. What details do they use to convey their brand? What works, what doesn’t?

Then have fun playing with creating your own brand!

Thanks for reading,

CJ

***

 RU Crew, what details would you use to convey your own brand?  We’d love to hear from you.

Thank you to CJ for being with us again.  We always have fun when you visit!

Join us on Wednesday when book cover artist Nathalie Gray will give us a behind the scenes look at how a cover is created.

BIO: As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about.  In addition to being an award-winning medical suspense author, CJ is a nationally known presenter and keynote speaker. Her first novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), received praise as a “breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller” from Publishers Weekly, was reviewed favorably by the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, named a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine, and became a National Bestseller.  Her award-winning, critically acclaimed Angels of Mercy series (LIFELINES, WARNING SIGNS, and URGENT CARE) is available now and the series finale, CRITICAL CONDITION, hits stores November, 2010.  Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich.  To learn more about CJ and her work, go to http://cjlyons.net/.

Black Friday is behind us, so while you continue looking for great holiday deals and presents, Romance University has some great lectures to give you from CJ Lyons,  Nathalie Gray, Angie Fox, Sally MacKenzie and Kate Douglas this week.

Discover how to build your own brand, what happens behind the scenes of your cover’s creation and the balance of working with and sharing your agent with other authors.

Mon, 11/29 – Crafting Your Career: Branding – Bestselling author CJ Lyons returns to show us how writers can build their own brand. GIVEAWAY: A prize pack of CJ’s first three Angels of Mercy books, signed and personalized.

Wed, 12/1– A Day in the Life of a Cover Artist – Book cover artist Nathalie Gray gives us a behind the scenes look at how covers are created.

Fri, 12/3 – Three Authors, One Agent  — Authors Angie Fox, Sally MacKenzie and Kate Douglas give us the skinny on what it’s like to share the same agent.

All Romance University lectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!

Best regards,

Kelsey Browning, Jennifer Tanner, Heather Long, Carrie Spencer, Adrienne Giordano & Tracey Devlyn

PS–Permission to forward lecture schedule is granted and encouraged! Want RU’s weekly lecture schedule in a cool new email format straight to your in-box? Sign up on RU’s homepage or any of the lecture posts!

Whether you’re attending the conference or not, having your elevator pitch ready can’t hurt. You could be at a function one night and your friend will say, “Hey, I just met Joe Smith here and he’s an editor at XYZ Publishing. Tell him about your book.” Yes, it actually happened.  Turned out the publisher in question only handled non-fiction, but you get the point.

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons is here to help us get our pitches ready.

Here’s CJ!

The Pitch is a writer’s best friend.

Why? Because it’s what you’ll use every time someone asks you to tell them about your book. Agents, editors, elevator folks, Great Aunt Martha.  Whoever.

 Since it’s verbal, shorter is better.  No more than 25 words total, 10-15 is best.  Short, sweet, memorable.  That’s what you’re going for—hey, I didn’t say it would be easy!

 There are several different types of pitches.  Here’s how I define them:

 Hollywood/comparison pitch: a very quick, easily memorable way to let someone who has never read your work know what it’s going to be like (note: not what it’s about, but what they can expect). 

 For my debut medical suspense novel, LIFELINES, it is: ER meets Grey’s Anatomy

 Implying that it has the edgy realism and non-stop action of ER, but also focuses on relationships like Grey’s Anatomy.

 I think elevator pitches were invented by all those ADD Hollywood types.

 It’s your down and dirty answer to: what is your book like?  It’s a comparison, not an explanation or description.

 The trick with elevator pitches is to use something universally known (like Indiana Jones) or something current and trendy.  You need to use comparisons your audience will understand, nod their heads and say, oh yeah, that sounds like something I’d read.

 Elevator or 15 second pitch: This one is more descriptive.  Start with your book’s hook line (also known as “tag line” or “log line”). 

 These are those throw away lines that scream at you from book covers.  Also look at movie posters and ads–they use hook lines a lot. 

 JAWS: don’t go into the water, ALIENS: in space no one can hear you scream, etc.

 These hook lines are useful in query letters to hook the reader and transition into your blurb. 

 For LIFELINES, the hook line is: July 1, the most dangerous day of the year.

 Notice what a hook line does that’s different than an Hollywood pitch. A hook line gets the reader to ASK questions, builds that emotional velcro by getting them involved.

 For LIFELINES, readers might ask: why is July 1 the most dangerous day of the year?  What will happen then?  Who is in danger?  What kind of danger? Etc.

 These hook lines are also great to use on websites, business cards, etc.  Often, they’ll end up on the book’s front cover.

Okay, so you have a hook line.  Sometimes that’s all you need, the conversation will evolve naturally from there.  Other times you use it simply to attract attention and move into a more detailed description.  This is where that 15-25 word story summary mentioned above comes in handy.  The hook line hooks the reader into wanting (or asking to hear) the short summary.

High Concept pitch: also quick and dirty, but here you’re going farther than a simple comparison. 

Instead of comparisons you use ICONs or universal concepts to connect your fictional world to the world of your audience.  This creates emotional velcro with your audience, leading them to be interested enough to want to know more!

To do this, you need to do two things: First, find a hook. This is the unique spin that you have put on your story. This means narrowing your search to one small part of your story. Start with your blurb, usually the hook will be apparent there.  If not, keep looking.

Basically you’re boiling your novel down to one and only one unique concept–whatever it is about your story that will create an immediate emotional connection or spark interest.

Note: often this isn’t your main plot line.  Often it’s the inciting incident or a unique detail that you expand upon in your world building.

Second, tie this unique hook to the larger world by using universal icons and feelings, implying that society at large is affected. Something that brings this hook specific to the time and place of your novel into the ordinary world of your audience.

You’re building a bridge here, connections, emotional velcro….whatever you want to call it, it needs to be so easy to grasp that anyone can feel it immediately. It’s all about the audience’s emotional response, NOT the story.

One of my favorite high concepts: ALIEN’s. It was: Jaws on a spaceship.

The unique hook = spaceship. Unique because no one has been on a spaceship, it’s something unfamiliar to the ordinary audience.

The universal icon = monster (Jaws). Everyone has had childhood fears of monsters under the bed.

We all know and understand fear, nightmares, terror. In fact, a large segment of the movie going audience (Alien’s target audience, in fact!!) pays good money to feel these emotions!

Add the two together and we have a universal fear of monsters combined with nowhere to run (trapped on a spaceship). A powerful one-two punch!!!

Feel how it evokes an immediate visceral response as well as intrigue???

The audience hearing this high concept immediately squirm in their seats, ask themselves: where can the people on the ship run? How can they fight the monster?

AND, the movie makers tied this high concept into their advertising by using a tag line of: In space, no one can hear you scream….

But note—there is no mention of character names, no long, involved psychological profiles, nothing except the bare essentials needed to pique the audience’s attention.

That’s the beauty of the high concept, it strips everything away except what you need to intrigue your audience.

It’s an emotional promise.  It does not tell the story (unlike your premise).  Instead it creates the same emotional response in your reader that your novel will evoke.

Another example. David Morrell’s recent book, SCAVENGERS used as its high concept: a scavenger hunt (unique hook) to the death (universal concept). The tag line used in advertising: Some secrets should remain buried…

Pretty obvious David’s audience are lovers of thrillers/suspense, and wouldn’t that audience immediately respond to that high concept? Be intrigued, think, hmm…I want to read that book, wondering what this master of suspense has in store for them.

Stephen King is also brilliant with high concepts. CUJO: rabid dog (hook) terrorizes town (universal fear). SALEMs LOT: vampires (unique hook–at the time) terrorize town (universal fear), CARRIE: prom queen (hook) terrorizes town….okay, anyone think King is writing sweet romance? Or has he earned his title of the King of Terror?

High concept depends who your target audience is and what kind of emotional experience you want to promise them.

For LIFELINES, my high concept is: An ER doctor saves the wrong patient.

Let’s dissect it.  ER doctor = universal icon (we can all see a doctor as soon as you read that, right?) 

Unique twist = saves the WRONG patient

Feel the sense of irony (implied irony really helps to make a high concept memorable)?  It helps you to connect to the idea, feel intrigued, want to know more.

This high concept actually only addresses one teeny, tiny plot point in the book—but it creates the emotional response that the book promises.  A world where even good doctors are powerless to save everyone, a world where saving a life can end up costing more lives, a world where no one is immune to danger…..

All that from seven little words!!!  That’s the power of a high concept.

Often, because the high concept is such a tiny taste of the entire book, as writers, we get frustrated because we’re looking at the big picture. We just spent months with these characters, we want to share them with our audience, expand on them, not boil them down to a bare skeleton.

But think of it this way–if you boil down a compelling high concept then the reader will spend hours with your characters and story as they read….after they pay their money for the book, of course, lol!

The high concept isn’t a synopsis or blurb, it’s merely a way to give your audience a sneak peak of the emotions they’ll feel while reading your book. And not every book lends itself to a high concept, so don’t get too frustrated if this doesn’t seem to fit your work!

This is hard, very, very hard!!  Be patient, keep trying, brainstorming power words, re-arranging and most importantly practicing saying them aloud.  Pitches are verbal so they need to sound smooth, natural, not awkward or stilted. 

The only way to learn how to do these is dive in and give it a try!  Go ahead and post your “perfect pitch” in the comments—I’ll comment on them, but I’d also like everyone who posts a pitch to comment on at least two others.  Explain why they worked for you or why they didn’t.

Format your pitch as: I’m pitching a (fill in the genre) titled (title).  Then dive right in!

Thanks for reading,

CJ

***

RU Crew, CJ has generously agreed to take your pitches and offer suggestions. Please, to respect CJ’s time, we ask that you choose one type of pitch (elevator, high concept, etc.) and  only pitch one book.  Thank you!

Join us on Monday when C.J. Redwine critiques a reader submitted query letter.

About CJ Lyons:

As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels.  Her award-winning, critically acclaimed Angels of Mercy series (LIFELINES, WARNING SIGNS, and URGENT CARE) is available in stores now with the fourth, CRITICAL CONDITION, due out December, 2010.  Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich.  Contact her at http://www.cjlyons.net

Join Romance University on Friday for our first ever Pitch-O-Rama! Author CJ Lyons will join us to help commenters refine your pitch. Going to Nationals? This is your big chance to get your pitch critiqued before you go!

Mon, 5/31 – Crafting Your Career: Debut author Victoria Gray reflects on history as a muse – how a heartthrob turned infamous villain, spies in corsets, and a lovestruck senator’s daughter became the inspiration for a trio of Civil War historical romances.

Wed, 6/2 – Anatomy of the Male Mind: The great agent hunt begins long before you write your query. Join Harlow for a heart to heart on choosing the right agent for you.

Fri, 6/4 – Chaos Theory of Writing: Author CJ Lyons returns to discuss the elements of an effective pitch. C.J. will also help commenters refine their pitches. Don’t miss this great opportunity to get your pitch in tip-top shape!

All Romance University lectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!

Best regards,

Tracey Devlyn, Carrie Spencer, Kelsey Browning and Adrienne Giordano

PS  - Want RU’s weekly lecture schedule in a cool new email format straight to your in-box? Sign up on RU’s homepage or any of the lecture posts!

Take it away, CJ!

Adrienne: Would you please define a turning point and a pinch?

CJ: Plot is character in conflict, taking action, changing over time.  We start Act 1 with the character acting “normally” but we end Act 2 with the character changed—with more change promised in Act 3.

In a novel or movie,  a turning point takes the plot in a new and different direction, often through a decision and action taken by the main character.  A pinch point is often a much quieter scene, not so much action as emotional, setting up the character’s motivation for the following action.

We show WHY the character must change through the main plot’s action with its turning points.

Pinch points let you take a short breather from the main action and show HOW the character changes by letting the reader in on their inner conflicts and goals.  More emphasis is on what they NEED rather than what they WANT.

In romances (and thrillers!) these are often the “quiet” scenes—the ones that nothing seems to be happening but you can’t forget them because so much actually DID happen, emotionally.

Think emotion, think theme.  Theme is what separates Drama from Action. Theme reflects primal, universal emotions.  It’s the ultimate emotional velcro to connect your audience with your story.

Adrienne:  I love to go through my scene chart and label my turning points and pinches.  It gives me a quick, visual progression of my story.  Using three-act structure as a guide, how many turning points and pinches do you recommend within each act?

CJ: Since Act 1 is filled with all the stuff of setting up a story you don’t need pinch points there.  The same with Act 3, which is filled with the black moment, climax, and resolution.

Where pinch points come in handy, though, is that pesky Act 2–pinch points act as buttresses on a bridge, pulling Act 2 together and avoiding that sagging middle!

The three act structure the acts are laid out thusly (approximate page numbers for a 400 page book):

P.1—opener

P.40—catalyst

P.100—TP #1/End Act 1

P.200—Midpoint

P.300—TP#2/End Act 2

P.360—Black Moment/Climax

p.390–Resolution

Notice how huge Act 2 is—half the book (or more, as Act 3 is often the shortest of all the acts).  That’s 200 pages to fill—without boring the reader!!!  Yikes!

Now look at Act 2 using Pinch Points:

P.100—TP#1/End Act 1

P.150—Pinch Point #1

P.200—Midpoint

P.250—Pinch Point #2

P.300—TP#2/End Act 2

Now you only have 50 pages (in a 400 page novel) between major, high impact scenes.  Ah, 50 pages, that I can handle!

Here’s an example from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Its second act looks like:

25% Turning Point #1, Call to Action = Army Intelligence sending Indy after Ark (Outer Goal clear)

*Pinch Point #1: Indy thinks Marion is dead, confronts Balloq and threatens to kill him, even though Balloq’s men would then kill Indy.

50% Midpoint: Indy finds both the Ark’s whereabouts and that Marion is  alive (reversal) but instead of freeing her, leaves her with Nazi’s so that he can go after Ark.  Reaffirms Outer Goal (obtaining Ark), while denying Inner Goal (need for a partner).

*Pinch Point #2: Marion and Indy “reunited” along with the snakes in the Well of Souls (reversal of first pinch point and midpoint where they were separated)

75% End of Act 2: Indy saves Marion by conquering physical manifestation of  his Inner Conflict (fear of failure) Everything seems lost, the Nazis have the Ark, they have no transportation, no weapons, no plan…

Notice how the pinch points are more focused on setting up the emotional change in the character rather than action.

Yet, who could forget that scene where Indy thinks Marion is dead?  Or the snarky quips hiding his joy when he is reunited with her, surrounded by snakes and overwhelming evidence of his failure—which has doomed them both.

Spielberg and Lucas add a pinch point in the third act (which is very, very long and needed one!) when they have the scene where Marion is tending to Indy’s wounds asking if they’ll ever have a chance for the two of them to be together.

Notice that, unlike most of the action scenes, these pinch points all reflect the theme of the movie: that no man is an island, and focus on Indy’s unconscious desire, what he truly needs (rather than what he wants): a life-partner, someone to share his burdens and help prevent him from failing.

Adrienne:  How/where do you use turning points and pinches in your books?

CJ: Once you’re clued into pinch points, you’ll start to notice them in so many movies and books—they’re the subliminal glue that holds the story together.

Let’s look at my debut medical suspense novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, 2008).  Here are the major turning points and pinch points:

–Opening: July 1^st, the most dangerous day of the year, reveals the main character, Lydia Fiore’s default action on her first day of work at Pittsburgh’s Angels of Mercy Medical Center.  She’s a maverick, an excellent doctor who will do anything for her patients, even if it means breaking all the rules and going it alone.

–Call to Action: Lydia loses the wrong patient—the chief of surgery’s son….and she has no idea how he really died

–TP #1: Lydia is alone in suspecting her patient’s death to be a homicide—but she won’t give up.  In this scene she decides to trust someone else (a huge decision for her, an independent woman raised on the streets of LA) and confides in paramedic Trey Garrison (the love interest)

–Pinch Point #1: Lydia argues with Trey about a patient’s care, and not only is she right, but she earns Trey’s admiration during a tricky car-accident rescue.  Trey shows his trust in her as a doctor and proves his respect for her as a woman—both setting up the romance to follow, because there’s no way a woman like Lydia could love any man she doesn’t trust, or who doesn’t trust her

–Midpoint: Everything changes here.  Just as Lydia thinks she’s figured out what killed her patient, another patient dies and she’s the number one suspect.  The hospital board interrogates her, suspending her privileges,  the real killer is still roaming free, and everything—Lydia’s job, reputation, friends, and life—are now at risk.

–Pinch Point #2: Trey and Lydia spend the night together and the next morning together save another victim from the killer—unfortunately it gets Lydia into more trouble with the authorities

–TP#2: Fearing that more innocent lives will be targeted by the killer if Lydia stays, she decides to leave Pittsburgh, and continue the search for the killer on her own (a return to her default action), a decision that will have dire consequences

–Black Moment/Climax: The killer has targeted not only Lydia but hundreds of innocent people. Lydia realizes that going it alone won’t work, that she needs the lifelines she’s forged at Angels of Mercy. Together she, Trey and the others save the day.

–Resolution: Lydia decides to stay in Pittsburgh and her new friends welcome her to her new home.  She’s now a very different person than the loner who arrived in Pittsburgh at the start of the story.

I hope the above example shows not only how to use the 3 Act Structure’s Turning Points and Pinch Points, but also how your character can drive the plot.

Can you find the pinch points in your book?  Movies are a good place to practice.  Check your favorites and tell us about the pinch points you find.

Any questions?  If so, post them below!  One lucky commenter will win a copy of LIFELINES as well as my second book, WARNING SIGNS.

Thanks for inviting me back to Romance University!

CJ

Thank you to CJ for another fantastic post.  Okay, everyone, let’s get to work and find those pinch points!

About CJ:

As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels.  Her first novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), received praise as a “breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller” from Publishers Weekly, was reviewed favorably by the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, named a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine, and became a National Bestseller.  LIFELINES also won a Readers’ Choice Award for Best First Novel.

Her second novel, WARNING SIGNS, was published by Berkley in January, 2009, with the third, URGENT CARE, scheduled for October 27, 2009. To learn more about CJ and her work, go to http://www.cjlyons.net